Sony a7 II gains faster focus for adapted lenses and uncompressed Raw

Sony has announced that its a7 II will receive a firmware update that will boost its autofocus performance with adapted lenses as well as add support for uncompressed Raw. Previously, the a7 II only used contrast detect AF with lenses adapted via passive adapters. That meant a lot of hunting, and unusable continuous AF.

Phase-detect AF with adapted lenses

The update enables the on-sensor phase detection system to work with adapted lenses. This should, theoretically, allow it to behave much like the a7R II, which is quick to focus many A-mount and 3rd party lenses, even able to continuously refocus quickly on approaching or receding subjects.

You can select phase detection for adapted lenses via a menu option the update will add. Depending on the option you choose in this menu item, the camera will use phase detection (for speed) or contrast detection (for accuracy, at the cost of speed) when using non-native lenses. We should point out that in our limited tests, on-sensor phase detection even with non-native lenses appears to exhibit the high accuracy of contrast detection. Therefore, enabling PDAF should bring many benefits, with little to no cost. And despite the a7 II's sensor having far fewer phase detection elements than the a7R II, and likely lower speed of readout, the company says the camera will be able to offer some degree of object recognition and tracking with A-mount lenses, meaning they are also likely to work with Canon lenses via third-party adapters.

Advanced subject tracking with adapted lenses?

Frankly, though, we don't expect the more advanced subject tracking modes, like eye AF and Lock-on AF, to function with adapted lenses, as they do not function on the a7R II. Rather, much like the a7R II, we'd expect the firmware to enable depth-based subject tracking - or the ability of the camera to automatically choose AF points to stay on a moving target using mostly phase information - in the camera's 'Wide' AF area mode. This is welcome, but if that's the only mode that allows general subject tracking with adapted lens, it won't suit many photographers, since 'Wide' never allows one to even specify what your subject is (the camera always chooses one for you). These, and other limitations like 3fps max drive for continuous AF, are real, and limit your ability to shoot sports in fast-paced, reliable manner. Face detection AF in continuous, though, works remarkable well, and with the phase detection support this update brings, makes for a usable way to ensure the primary face in your scene is in focus at the time of capture.

Uncompressed Raw

In addition, the firmware update will add the uncompressed Raw option Sony introduced in the a7R II and available in the a7S II. Uncompressed Raw avoids the compression artifacts we, and many others, found could be introduced by Sony's compression algorithms. Ideally, we hear you: a lossless compressed option would be nice, but this is a start, and it is encouraging to see previous cameras updated with an uncompressed Raw that avoids all potentially image degrading steps in the Raw file writing process. The update will also allow the movie record function to be assigned to a wider range of buttons. The update will be available around November 17th.

The new focusing option (enabling on phase detected auto focus) with DEO-Tech Golden Eagle MKiii Contax G lens adapter is working much much better then ever before. Now for the very first time I can strongly advise it to everbody who ever wants to use that lovely Zeiss lenses with their Sony A7ii.

They are small and fitting the idea of being light and small. I tried with all of them (21-28-35-45-90) they are almost always dead on spot and really very very quick, almost as fast as the native lenses. Only just a little bit noisy.

I can say that there is not any color shift. But the edge softness is there till f11 but f16 and f22 it is much, much better than acceptable. Center sharpness is excellent even wide open on both lenses.

This is a good upgrade. A7 II is sensibly priced (just check out the price difference between A7S & A7S II; except for video features, you mainly pay for IBIS) and has IBIS.Probably we have to see a sponsored test report (like we did for Samsung NX1 video performance) which Sony has to provide a A7 II with some popular adapters (like Metabones) and let Dpreview staff check AF performance with various lenses from Canon.

Does this mean that A7II will now do PDAF with LA-EA3 adapter? I would be much more interested in buying into the A7 system if I could use A-mount lenses on it with decent PDAF. (Not interested in LA-EA4 due to light loss etc).

Any word on whether or not Auto Bracketing will be moved to allow use with the self timer? I'd love to avoid having to hold the shutter down to get the camera to take bracketed shots. Probably the last biggest thing I miss from my Canon.

I have an A7R and I use Sony's excellent little RMT-DSLR2 which gives you a 2 second timer option on all bracketing settings, plus a host of other remote functions. Best accessory I've ever bought for my Sony.

@rawdinal. The options are now: lossy compressed or totally uncompressed. The optimal outcome would be a losslessly compressed file - one that retains all the flexibility of the original but is smaller (as offered by several other brands).

"Faster AF with adapted lenses"...? I dont get it. The LAEA4 Adapter comes with its own AF system. And other lenses than A-mount will not AF on the a7. So what is the article talking about? Better performance with the LAEA3 adapter? If thats the case, why not write exactly that?

There are many AF adapters for Canon lenses for E mount including one that is supposed to allow AFC with the A7 and A7ii.....Some adapters will not AF some lenses and others it will be different ones.....Metabones IV wont with the 50 1.8ii but others will for instance.AF is slow and AFS only (Saker falcon on PDAF/CDAF cameras maybe excepted) but it does work......On the CDAF only A7s AF works with Canon lenses in light that they wont AF with Current Canon cameras.There are also AF adapters for (I think) three different Contax mounts and there is that (long promised) Nikon adapter.

I tried the A7rII with Commlite Adapter and the only Canon lenses we brought to run halfway consistent were 17-40L and 35 IS, but better forget about reportage usage. 85 did not work at all, 70-200 4L IS worked sometimes at longer distances. 50mm 1.4 did not run. 24-105L sometimes worked and sometimes not. Even the old 5D MK I did a much better job with the two lenses which worked on Sony and of course it worked flawlessly with all lenses.

Maybe a different adapter would give different results but they seem all to have their share of issues with certain lenses. Do not buy a Sony and expect your Canon lenses to work flawlessly. Better try before you buy which can be pretty difficult since not every dealer has a collection of adapters available.

I guess people are now accepting the idea that a 2-year-old camera is too old to deserve firmware update supports. Bye first gen Sony A7 series, time to replace you with the A7R Mk.II which I'd need to replace in two years time.

Maybe, but there are other features that could be "unlocked" through firmware update that the users of the first-gen A7 series cameras would appreciate. Such as uncompressed RAW option, the snow-flake AF tracking visual feedback from the Mark.II bodies, different AF implementations...etc. Also, Sony would do well to address some of the existing complaints via firmware updates as well. Simplifying the menu system, introduce "record via shutter release" option, and other requests that a lot of users have been demanding. I'm happy to see Sony coming out with decent upgrades of their camera line annually, but Sony has to do a lot more to convince people that their Sony bodies won't become orphans in just 2 years. Actually, when was the last time Sony update the A7 line cameras?

That's what i was lamenting on Brendon. Fujifilm seems to be doing a much better job than Sony in this regard. It seems like people are increasingly open to the idea of upgrading their camera bodies in every 2 years or so. I'd rather Sony slow down a little and keep current users happy about choosing its products with continued support.

Unfortunately its just Fujifilm. No one else seems to be that bothered about its customers. :(

That said you are putting a negative spin on a positive news article. You bought the A7 knowing fully well its plus points and minus points and during its run time Sony did improve its performance a bit. This firmware upgrade for the A7 II was expected just to fix the uncompressed RAW option but they added a much bigger bonus.

Not really, manufacturers other than Fujifilm also take care of their customers who spent a lot of money investing in their systems. Just one example, after numerous bouts of firmware updaes, the E-M1, a 2013 camera, is getting another major update that will give it features from the newer E-M5 Mk.II.

Fujifilm have only really released one ILC since launch of the system, just new shells and new firmware, which they selectively choose to roll out to certain models. I had a X100SS, how many great firmware updates did that get? The only major changes for Fuji hardware was between first and second gen which got PDAF, since then nothing but FW updates and different packaging. It's easier to update the firmware if that is all that is new with your bodies. But like the X100S, Sony will not release these enhancements to the original A7 as many of them were the differentiator between these models.

As for older higher end models getting lower end model features like the E-M1, well its still their current top of the range, regardless of being two years old. It is certainly not getting all the features of its siblings, though one would expect the flagship to have at least the video spec of its budget model.

This is excellent! I've criticised Sony's rather shot-lived firmware support cycles in the past, but it appears as though they're listening. As an A7II owner, I suddenly have a lot more faith in the Sony brand I've invested into!

I think it's great that Sony is doing this -- especially that they are doing more than just the uncompressed raw. For what it's worth, the free tool I created that credibly repairs the compressed raw artifacts, http://aggregate.org/DIT/KARWY/ , still hasn't had all that many users (still under 200), so I think the focus changes will be meaningful to far more users than the uncompressed raw will be.

Isnt this RAW thing overhyped? Guess what, Im still shooting JPG on my SONY cameras and happily so. I have yet to see one photograph and think... "my... this would have looked so much better with uncompressed RAW..."

Raw formats can do lots of things JPEGs cannot, but very rarely does the lossy raw encoding mean that uncompressed raw can do more, and that's even more true given how well KARWY repairs the lossy raw artifacts. So, yes, it is overhyped. Still, the lossy compression is a legitimate issue, and would probably be worse in future Sony cameras, so it is good to have the uncompressed option to use when you need it. For older raws, or for when you didn't realize you needed uncompressed, there's always KARWY.... ;-)

I would not expect them too though......I would pay a small fee if they did with the original.I guess there is the Saker Falcon adapter to allow AFC with Canon lenses on the original A7....I am still a bit confused as to how well it works though.There is no real reason why it can not work....the Kipon adapter for EF to M4/3 works great for fast AF on my GX7 with my 40 2.8 STM lens especially (AFS only) and the Metabones Speedboosters allow AFC with fast AF on some M4/3 cameras with some Canon lenses.

If you get depressed so easily quit digital and move to film. The truth is 3 years in digital is a very long time especially in mirrorless cameras where a new A7 camera is released almost every year compared to a 3 year cycle with Nikon or Canon.

The A7 had a few performance upgrades via firmware from Sony and while it would be nice if Sony still supports it since I also use an A7 I am not expecting anything from Sony for a discontinued camera.

Surprisingly, major Australian electronics retail chain JB HI-FI has just started selling the A7 at some of their stores.It is in the latest catalogue at $1399 Australian with a $200 Visa card via redemption.....that's around $900 US after redemption for comparison.Lots of errors in their ad though.

yes, production has stopped, but it is not a "very old" camera, since it is still available in stores.

But, while it's a bit unrealistic to ask to a marketing team to add "new goodies" to "such an old camera" ... other things should be included. And i'm talking about uncompressed RAW - it's not really a "new" feature, it's more of a issue with their compression algorithm that was blamed by a lot of their clients, so including the fix for ALL sony cameras that can support it is something sony really should have done.

Firmware updates like these are a massive change to the camera's original's specs.

I think it can even be considered as a new or refreshed version of a model, and as such is also needs a new review: this could potentially turn the A7 II into a cheaper option than the A7R II for someone moving from Canon, for instance.

Heck, it's maybe even better for some people, because you don't have to handle the massive files...

even if not moving from canon it is an interesting choice... I would consider it with the metabones adapter and some excellent cheap or expensive performers from canon (85/1.8 it's just an example that it's difficult to match from sony, or the new 50/1.8STM).

I was expecting the updated lineup from fuji, but i didn't invest much in the system till now (have more canon lenses up to date).... so this could be an interesting twist... probably in a year or so you could get it for about 1000$

I've wondered how handicapping 1/60 feels for A7ii-users. It would seem about 50% of the damage would be negated by the in-house sss based on what made me almost throw the A6000 in a lake, old A user as I was. About half of blurry shots came from subject movement.

I have no interest in the RAW changes but yes, I would like to have AFC with the original A7 with Canon lenses and maybe a bit more usability with my A mount lenses too.Not something I would use a real lot but still would be useful for me especially with the 135 f2 L at sports/horse races from time to time.I would even pay a small fee for it if I had to in the original A7.It is not a current model though so it would be a nice gesture from Sony if they did it.

Oh yeah, just noticed it's a7ii, that's even more impressive, I thought they've forgotten about that camera now! If this works for a7ii, I am sure the firmware update for a7rii is just around the corner...

Chinese company Techart has produced an adapter that works with the AF system of Sony's A7 II and A7R II cameras to create an autofocus effect for Leica M mount lenses. The adapter ring sits between the body and the lens and uses a motor to drive the lens back and forth until sharp focus is found. Read more

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